Routinely inconsistent

After years, and I mean years, of working out for a month or two and then stopping for 7-8, I've finally gotten myself into a somewhat stable situation.

I moved to a new city, where I don't know too many people, so I don't have too many distractions. I finally got myself the career in law enforcement I always dreamed of, so work stability and cash flow are no longer a stress in my life. I've also lost about 15lbs of extra useless weight since I started working out again, and I feel great.

I do work 12 hour shift work, plus hold overs and last minute overtime shifts, but I've been able to find time for my workouts regardless, and it doesn't feel like a chore, but something I look forward to.

I've also signed up for a men's hockey league (which will be my first time playing in a league, and also takes care of my cardio), so I'm pretty excited about that.

Edit:

So the league didn't pan out. They had tryouts, I went, I had a good showing, but they had no more room left on rosters to take me in. But I've signed up for powerskating classes, and Im trying to go to pick up hockey at least twice a week.

Turns out that skating is helping more than just my cardio though. My legs/glutes/core feel a lot stronger since I started playing regularly!

But that's enough of an intro. I've been doing a bastardized version of starting strength. I replaced back squats with front squats on my day ones as I was having trouble getting my chest up at the same time as I straightened my legs. Ever since I made the switch, my back squats have been feeling a lot better. I'll switch back to back squats within the next month I think.

There's no room in the gym I go to, to do power cleans, so I've replaced those with pendlay rows (if I find the time to squeeze them in on my day twos). I've inquired about cancelling the gym membership so I can go to a more powerlifting focus gym, just waiting on their reply.

Today's workout was fantastic. It's probably because I took 2 scoops of preworkout for the first time, but I was feeling great after all of my sets. I've really been trying to take my front squats slow, with a little pause at the bottom, and my core hasn't felt this worked out in awhile! Deadlifts we're going up fast, but I think I'll need to work on my grip strength soon. It wasn't slipping out of my hands, but the bar did feel a lot heavier than normal.

Front squat:
45lbs x 5
135lbs x 3x5

Military Press:
45lbs x 5
105lbs x 3x5

Deadlift:
135lbs x 5
225lbs x 5
265lbs x 5

Now I'm just chillin at work. First hour on the job, busted a shitrat for carrying drugs. Today's going to be a great day.

Late shift last night, plus staying up for the fight, made for a rough early wake up this morning to work out before work. Slept through my alarm, rushed to the gym and only found time to get my squats in.

Squatting was good today, felt nice and fine. The only gripe I had with it was my grip. It's hot in the gym, and my hands sweat a lot normally, so they get pretty slippery. We're not allowed chalk in the gym, and I don't want to wear gloves, but I might have to after today.

Setting up nice and tight for the squat with my hands somewhat close to my body, after 2-3 reps my hands would slip out wider and wider, making it harder to stay tight in my upper body. I had to rerack and readjust on two sets. That was really annoying and those squats were harder than they should have been.

Squat:
45lbs x5
135lbs x5
185lbs x5
215lbs 3 x5

Might go back to the gym tomorrow to finish up the bench and rows/cleans (depends how much room there is)

I'm on the longest stretch of days off in about a month (3 days), and I feel pretty lathargic. Still got a good workout in today. Wasn't super motivated, but I had to run errands around town anyways, so that was enough to get me up and going.

Front squats are still going up well considering I'm doing them very slowly. My core is definitely benefiting from it though.

Military presses were the easiest they've been since I started working out again. They went up no problem!

Deadlifts went well too. That extra "grip" training I've been doing since my girlfriend's been away must be paying off.

I forgot to mention this for the other workouts, but warm up consists of biking about 2-2.5 km on a stationary. Gets the blood circulating!

Yeah I have 4.5 acres of land in a residential area. I work in Ottawa. The commute isn't bad. Its early enough for no traffic.
Where did you train in Ottawa?

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Man, that's the dream. Big property. Without traffic it still takes about an hour, no? Does that ever drain on you?

I work for the CBSA, so the goal is to get a posting at Landsdown, Prescott, Cornwall, or the airport and live around where you're at. My girlfriend still lives up there and she's pushing hard for me to go back.

I was up there for school mainly, so I worked out at the college gym (La Cité, the French one no one has heard about) the odd times I did actually work out.

Man, that's the dream. Big property. Without traffic it still takes about an hour, no? Does that ever drain on you?

I work for the CBSA, so the goal is to get a posting at Landsdown, Prescott, Cornwall, or the airport and live around where you're at. My girlfriend still lives up there and she's pushing hard for me to go back.

I was up there for school mainly, so I worked out at the college gym (La Cité, the French one no one has heard about) the odd times I did actually work out.

Do you work out at a gym in brockville, or Ottawa?

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LOL I know La Cite.
I work out in Brockville at a friends gym. Good shit. Good people and the equipment is all I need.

The commute is a 1 hour "me time" I have my coffee in the morning, CBC and I can think about shit. Winters suck, of course but I've been doing it for 10 years.

Prescott is a nice place too, if you can get over the shitty people and parts of the city (village). Good gym there called Bats Fitness.

Slept like a baby last night, but I've been eating like shit/not eating enough these past two days. It came back to haunt me, as you'll see below.

Squats
45lbs x 5
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 5
205lbs x 5
225lbs x 4

- the 4th rep was brutal. I had to gas left, lost tightenes and wound up having to goodmornibg the weight back up. My lower back doesn't feel right now. Still did 2 more sets though. Probably not the smartest thing, but oh well.
225lbs 2 x 3

Bench
45lbs x 5
135lbs x 5
185lbs 3 x 5

Missed the last rep of the last set. It's a sign to stop increasing 10lbs every session.

By this point my lower back was really tight. I decided to skip the pendlay rows that I have yet to do, and just stretch instead. Took a hot shower when I got home and stretched again. Back still feels tight, so now it's a waiting game.

After 4 days of varying 12+ hour shifts, I finally made it back into the gym. Shitty thing is it's on a holiday, and the gym has special hours. I've never seen so many people in one before. I was unable to get into a squat rack as it was always occupied, and there seemed to be a line of people waiting to use one of the 3 the gym has.

I found a tiny area between two benches, a wall, and a leg press that I was able to squeeze into with a bar and do my presses and deadlifts in.

Presses were great today. Went up without a problem!

Deadlifts were alright. I was struggling on the last rep, but still pulled it (no hitching).

Depending on how hungover I am tomorrow, I might go back to do those front squats I missed today.

Lack of sleep over the past little bit, woke up late today, still made it to the gym. It was the opposite of the last session, as I just got my squats in. Went a lot better than the last time I tried 225lbs! Only the last rep of the 3rd set gave me some problems; my butt came up a little faster than my chest.

Besides that, the weight felt not heavy (I won't say it felt light), but it was manageable.

Squats

45lbs x 5
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 5
225lbs 3 x 5

I am excited to get a good workout in, with some videos hopefully, on Sunday!

Felt pretty weak today even though I slept really well the past 2 nights. I can only assume my shitty diet contributed to my lack of strength. Form was breaking down at the end of my front squats and deadlifts, and my press I couldn't even hit a single set of 5, even though I got the same weight up no problem last week.

Next workout is scheduled for the same day I need to switch over to working overnights. Should be interesting.

I posted this in a thread in diet & supps, but haven't got any helpful replies yet. Maybe I'll get more help up in here:

Like mentioned in my OP, I work shift work, and I have trouble sleeping during the day when I'm working overnight. I have no problem falling asleep, as I pass out as soon as I get home. Staying asleep is my issue.

I sleep for 3-5 hours if I'm lucky, I wake up and most often than not can't fall back asleep. It makes staying awake while at work extremely difficult when there's down time, and working out nearly impossible when I'm working.

I was curious to know if anyone would recommend melatonin, or something else to help with this.